Quick Shots: NFL should get best title games in decades Sunday

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Rockford Register Star

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Posted Jan. 13, 2014 at 4:05 PM

Posted Jan. 13, 2014 at 4:05 PM

Quick Shots/NFL

NFL's final four best in decades

This could be the NFL's best final four since the Steelers and Raiders both reached the AFC finals four times in five years in the mid-1970s. Only two of the last 29 AFC No. 1 seeds have won the Super Bowl and one of the last 13 in the NFC. If the Broncos or Seahawks win this year, they will join the 2009 Saints as the only No. 1 seeds to win in the last decade.

No matter what happens, this year, you can't win by being a so-so team that gets hot at the right time. The Broncos, Seahawks, Patriots and 49ers (tied with Carolina) not only had the four best records in football this year, but were predicted to be the four best teams all along. They may have been the four best teams last year too.

Good QB news

Jay Cutler's contract suddenly looks better for the Bears, as does Green Bay's future with Aaron Rodgers. The great QBs haven't been so great in the playoffs. Four of the five highest passer rating games in the playoffs this year have come on the losing side (Alex Smith, Nick Foles, Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers, although Rivers' 115.8 rating was worth only 30.3 QBR). Rivers was the only passer with a 100 rating in a win, and that was in a game where he had only 128 yards.

Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees have been hard to separate during the regular season, but Rodgers has been the best in the playoffs. And Cutler, apparently, won't have to transform into a 100-passer rating star to be a playoff winner for the Bears. Even 90 might be good enough.

Odds and ends

Andrew Luck has eight interceptions and a 70 passer rating in three playoff games. ... The Patriots will play their first road playoff game since 2006; only five of Tom Brady's 25 playoff games have been on the road (he's 3-2). ... The Panthers held opponents to 20 or fewer points 13 times, but Cam Newton and the offense didn't hold up their end, failing to score more than 17 points six times. ... Peter Damilatis of Pro Football Focus reports that Marshawn Lynch forced 13 missed tackles Saturday and Ray Rice forced nine all season. ... How does Lynch (three straight 1,200-yard seasons with Seattle) get traded for fourth- and fifth-round picks and Anquan Boldin (655 yards receiving in his last seven playoff games) get traded for a sixth-round pick?